


Nothing Special

by ToothpasteDragon



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game), The Borrowers - All Media Types
Genre: Cute content ahead, Fluff, Gen, borrower au, you've been warned!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 17:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30042288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToothpasteDragon/pseuds/ToothpasteDragon
Summary: Hat Kid is a Borrower - a tiny humanoid creature that lives within walls and below floorboards, surviving off the crumbs of human beans. Fortunately, she no longer has to hide from the beans who have proven themselves trustworthy and welcomed her into their family. Despite their frightening size and bold personalities, Hat Kid loves their company.Snatcher, a young law-school dropout, is happy to see the little Borrower one morning while responding to emails. But he’s caught off-guard when she mentions his birthday, a topic he purposefully avoids. Which just happens to be today.
Relationships: Hat Kid & Snatcher (A Hat in Time)
Kudos: 30
Collections: A Hat in Time AU Ficlets





	Nothing Special

**Author's Note:**

> If you were involved in the Hat in Time tumblr fandom back in 2019, you might recognize this piece! It was originally submitted to the blog teenytinyhatkid and is based on the Borrower AU created by the blog’s owner, [MonsterMonsoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterMonsoon/pseuds/MonsterMonsoon). The blog has since been deemed inactive and no additional content is being produced. But I still like this piece, so I figured I’d post it here at the very least. Enjoy!

It was a normal day. Nothing special.

Faint rays of sunlight peeked through half-closed shutters, their golden hues just barely illuminating the musty attic. Shimmering dust particles faded in and out of view as they drifted past the window, practically weightless in the stale air. It was almost beautiful. _Almost_.

Snatcher was sitting at his desk, long fingers tick-tacking away at his laptop keyboard. A sudden lack of motivation cost him two days’ work, so when he awoke to an overflowing inbox, he decided it was finally time to hunker down and respond to all of his unopened emails.

How desperately he wanted to crawl back under the covers and sleep the day away.

Tired eyes skimmed a large block of text for grammatical errors before Snatcher dragged the cursor toward a blue button at the bottom of the screen, the word ‘SEND’ plastered on its surface. With one swift click, the email vanished from view. The aspiring lawyer slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes, a sharp inhale transforming into a yawn against his will.

Three emails down, thirty-four to go. It was going to be a _long_ day.

“Snatcher!”

Snatcher opened his eyes at the sound of a very familiar voice. Sitting upright, his gaze drifted to the far edge of his desk, which was resting directly below a small crack in the wall. From this crack emerged a minuscule being, her bright purple tunic and homemade top hat instantly recognizable. She followed the grain of the desk’s mahogany wood, skipping toward the human with a big smile on her face.

“Hey kiddo,” welcomed Snatcher. Despite his sour mood, he couldn’t help but grin when the little Borrower grasped his outstretched pointer finger in greeting. “What brings you to my dungeon today?”

Hat Kid was practically bouncing with excitement. “You should know! It’s _your_ special day, after all!”

Snatcher went rigid. Then he groaned. “Who told you?”

“Cookie.”

 _Of course_.

“Listen, kid,” Snatcher sighed, “I’m gonna be honest with you. I just…don’t like birthdays. Bad memories, and all that.”

Hat Kid whined in protest. “But I’ve missed so many of your birthdays already, I don’t want to miss anymore. Besides, you can always make new memories!”

The kid had a point. Still, he was too stubborn to let her win _that_ easily.

Snatcher’s eyes narrowed and his lips curled into a devious smirk. Freeing his pointer finger from her grip, he gently flicked the top hat off her head. “Do Borrowers even celebrate birthdays?”

Hat Kid looked shocked and offended all at once. Stooping down to retrieve her hat, she briefly inspected it for blemishes before placing it back on her head. Satisfied, Hat Kid crossed her arms and glared at Snatcher, though she was unable to conceal a playful smile.

“As a matter of fact, we do,” Hat Kid huffed. “And don’t change the subject!”

Snatcher leaned back in his chair and shrugged, eyelids closing lazily. “I don’t know what to tell you, kid. _I’m_ not going to waste time celebrating my birthday, and you can’t exactly throw a party at your diminutive size.”

“True,” Hat Kid admitted. “But lucky for you, Borrowers don’t throw parties. We give gifts!”

That certainly caught the human’s attention. Taken aback by such an unexpected response, Snatcher’s brow furrowed as he rose from his slouched position. “Wait…gifts?”

Before he could say anything else, the tiny girl was trotting back toward the crack in the wall. “Don’t move!” she commanded, then swiftly disappeared into the hole.

Snatcher was dumbstruck. He thought he’d gained the upper hand with that ‘diminutive size’ comment, but it seemed Hat Kid had a few tricks up her sleeve. Gifts? For _him_?

The only gifts he ever received were mortgage bills and snarky remarks from Conductor. Besides, how did a child the size of his pinky finger manage to buy something if the closest convenience store was a mile away? Did she get help from one of his housemates? And what sort of present could fit inside such a tiny hole in the wall?

He supposed his questions would be answered when the little Borrower reappeared. As if on cue, Hat Kid’s bright yellow cape came into view. She was towing a bunched-up tissue as one might lug a bag of toys, its weight slowing her pace slightly.

Intrigued, Snatcher watched as Hat Kid inched forward, heavy breaths growing more audible as she drew near. She came to a stop right in front of him, then proudly placed her hands on her hips.

“I really thought you’d get me something better than a used tissue,” Snatcher teased.

Hat Kid rolled her eyes. “Do you want your gifts, or not?”

Snatcher wasn’t sure what to expect, but at least things were getting interesting. “Alright, fine. Show me.”

As the words left his mouth, Hat Kid turned around and retrieved the first item, her face glowing. It was hefty for someone her size. She held it up for the human to see.

“A…bottle cap?”

“I found this a couple weeks ago,” said Hat Kid, turning the metal piece in her hands. “I don’t know what ‘Orange Soda’ is, but it must be a really cool human thing!”

The Borrower placed the bottle cap in Snatcher’s palm. He lifted it closer to his face, studying it carefully. Nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the underside was still coated in a sticky, orange residue.

It was just a regular bottle cap.

“Gee, thanks kid,” Snatcher said, trying his best to sound thankful.

Looking down at the girl, he noticed she was holding another item in her hands. It was blue and black with an iridescent sheen, standing taller than Hat Kid herself.

“Grooves told me this is a Blue Jay feather! Birds are a Borrower’s worst nightmare – next to cats, of course – but I think their feathers are nice. I hope you like it as much as I do!”

The girl motioned for Snatcher to accept the gift, so he gingerly removed the feather from her grasp. Colors danced across the surface when he twirled it between a forefinger and thumb.

At least it was a step up from a bottle cap.

Rather than waiting for Snatcher to respond, Hat Kid reached into the tissue and brought out the next gift. She was holding something small and pink in her hands, a short green stem jutting out from below.

“There aren’t many flowers in the backyard, so…I plucked this from the bouquet in the kitchen!” Quietly, Hat Kid added, “Please don’t tell on me.”

Snatcher chuckled. “I don’t think anyone will be angry if they find out you stole a flower.”

Receiving a harsh look from the girl, Snatcher mentally scolded himself.

“Sorry, _borrowed_ a flower,” he corrected.

Snatcher moved the bottle cap and feather to his left hand so he could grab the flower with his right. It wasn’t difficult to distinguish, what with its small size and unique petal pattern. Heliotrope used to grow around his childhood home. It brought back good memories.

He was beginning to see a pattern with Hat Kid’s gifts. They were all tiny, yes, but more importantly…perfect items for borrowing.

Insignificant things that were easily misplaced.

And yet, they were valuable in the Borrower’s eyes.

“These,” continued Hat Kid, hands overflowing with tiny white discs, “are bell pepper seeds! Cookie found them in the garage and said they’re super easy to care for. I thought maybe we could start a garden together!”

Snatcher perked up at this, though somewhat embarrassedly. He’d secretly always wanted his own garden. A pleasant little safe haven with lots of beautiful succulents and no crazy girlfriend breathing down his neck. A place where he could get his hands dirty and care for another living thing, giving him incentive to take better care of himself in the process. But he made excuses. Too busy, too tired, too unmotivated.

He didn’t know if he would ever actually do it. But how could he refuse with Hat Kid grinning up at him like that?

Snatcher returned her smile. And for once, it was genuine.

“I’d like that,” he said, his cheeks turning a soft shade of red.

The Borrower’s grin widened as she placed the seeds back in the tissue, stacking them in a neat pile. Glancing at the remaining gifts, she let out an enthusiastic “Oh!” before reaching for a thin wire and holding it in front of her face.

Snatcher instantly noticed the red and white stripes adorning the otherwise-average paperclip, as well as Hat Kid’s big, blue eyes peeking through the gap in the middle.

“This one’s super cool! Borrowers use paperclips all the time, especially for climbing,” the girl explained. “But I’ve never seen one like this before, so I didn’t want to bend it. I figured you could use it to organize all your fancy lawyer documents!”

Unable to hold back a snicker, Snatcher set his other gifts off to the side before taking the metal piece from Hat Kid. It reminded him of a very small candy cane, and he wondered if the correlation was intentional. He also caught himself wondering if the paperclip _tasted_ like a candy cane. While curious, he wasn’t curious enough to find out.

Hat Kid turned quickly, unfolding the tissue so she could reveal the final gift. “And last but not least…”

In her hands was a thin ribbon, its length greater than her arms could reach. The purple silk shimmered when Hat Kid lifted it above her head, pale rays of sunlight creating soft reflections over its width. Both ends had been cut in a V-shape, which had only just started to fray.

“Ta-da!” she exclaimed.

Snatcher wore a puzzled expression.

Hat Kid lowered her arms and broke eye contact, running tiny fingers over the ribbon’s interlacing threads. “Although it may not look like much, this means a lot to me. It’s the first thing I found when I entered this house.”

She looked up at Snatcher, his giant form filling her vision. “I’ve been hanging onto this for a while now, and I still love it. But it matches your vest perfectly, so I want you to have it.”

The Borrower offered the ribbon to her human friend. He stared at it for a few seconds, unmoving, as if he was unworthy of receiving something so precious. It didn’t feel right, but he allowed the girl to place the gift in his upturned hand before running his own fingers across its surface. It was smooth to the touch and pleasing to the eye. No wonder she liked it so much.

“So,” Hat Kid said, rubbing a forearm nervously, “what do you think?”

Snatcher glanced between the ribbon and his pile of gifts. Often overlooked, these items were more than just _things_. They were treasures to the little Borrower. They were significant.

The fact that she was giving them away…it probably meant more than he knew.

Snatcher sighed. “Kid, I…can’t accept these.”

Hat Kid looked crestfallen, as if she had done something wrong. “You don’t like them?”

The human tensed up, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “No, no! Of course I like them,” he spat hurriedly. “But it’s obvious you like them too, and I don’t want to take them from you.”

At this, Hat Kid giggled. “It’s okay. You’re supposed to give special things to special people!”

Snatcher was touched. This kid was voluntarily surrendering some of her most prized possessions, and for what? Because he was another year older? He didn’t deserve her generosity, _especially_ on his birthday.

If she refused to keep her treasures, maybe he could propose a trade.

Snatcher flashed his signature grin. “Let’s make a deal.”

Hat Kid blinked, confused by his sudden change in tone.

“I’ll take good care of your gifts,” he said, motioning to the pile, “if you take care of _this_ for me.”

The Borrower was more than a little surprised when large fingers spun her around and removed her top hat. At first, she thought he was toying with her, but the gentleness of his movements told her otherwise. She felt him tug on her hair a couple times, which only heightened her curiosity.

Finally, Snatcher moved his hands away. Amused by the girl’s bewildered expression, he watched as she ran a hand over her head, trying to figure out what he’d done.

Then she understood. The silk ribbon was tied around her ponytail in a neat bow.

Snatcher nodded in approval, pointing to his vest. “That way, we can match.”

Hat Kid was silent. But her smile grew and grew.

Without warning, she flung herself at Snatcher’s left hand, latching onto his pointer finger in a makeshift hug. “It’s a deal! Thank you, Snatcher!”

Now Snatcher was surprised. He kept his hand very still, worried that even the smallest movement might harm the Borrower, but he quickly threw caution to the wind. Using his other hand, he scooped the girl up and cradled her against his chest. It might’ve been the world’s most awkward hug, but it was the best he could do.

“No,” he grinned, “thank _you_ for making this the best birthday ever.”

Surrounded by two protective hands, Hat Kid snuggled against Snatcher’s purple vest, her ribbon blending in with the fabric. Snatcher’s heart melted.

It wasn’t just a normal day. It was something special.


End file.
